Storrie - Benjani deal explained

I was outraged at the fee received being claimed by City for Benjani and this showed I think! I am as placid as they come but when the red mist descends it often descents with vengeance...

In all honesty I still think that the arrangement is not 'what it could or even should have been' but Peter Storrie has 'explained' this on the Pompey site and it does sound better than it first appeared: 'Today's deal has been structured to enable Benji to join Manchester City without any more delay.

'We were asked by the Premier League if we could work with City on restructuring the original deal. We were under no obligation to do so as the Premier League had received all of the necessary documents before the transfer deadline.

'However, Benji has been a tremendous servant to Pompey so we have agreed that City can pay half the £7.75m fee up front with the other half being split equally over 25, 50 and 75 appearances.

'City expressed some concern over a knee operation 18 months ago but as Benji has never shown any sign of trouble since the operation and rarely misses a game or training, we were happy to come to this arrangement.

'We, of course, are confident of him playing the required amount of games otherwise we would not have agreed to the deal.

'Fees from transfers are always spread over a period of time so this is nothing new and we could well be paid the full fee quicker this way than in other circumstances.

'The Premier League has thanked us for adopting this sensible solution and Manchester City are also grateful that we have come to this agreement.

I feel less aggrieved having read this to be honest, as being paid further instalments - of around £1.29m each time - after 25, 50 and finally 75 games does make the deal sound better than the 'original' 75 game figure quotes, and City did not mention the 25 or 50 game marks... To be honest I still think that we will do well to see the full '£7.75m', but you never know...

Storrie also said that this deal being sorted as it is allows Benjani to carry on his footballing career now and wished him well: 'above all, Benji is no longer in limbo and everyone at Fratton Park wishes him continued success'.

Yep, we must not forget this I know we have already done this several times thinking the deal was done, but now it is 100% no two ways about it confirmed we must wish Benjani all the best. He has been fantastic for us, and as said several times before City have got a special player, I just hope that they will appreciate him as we did...

Comments

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as long as pompey tie up the defoe deal asap then it will finally put this saga to bed and we can concentrate on finishing the season well with all our players back which could see the most exciting pompey team ever!!

Would it not have been better to let city have him on loan and then see where are finances stood at the end of the season?
If Defoe is as commited as he says he is then surely we could sign him in the summer and then if City aren't happy with Benji they can send him back and we could sell Nuge and a Midfielder to raise the funds (if we need to raise funds then as we should surely be high in the table and looking at a european tour).

this issue needs to be put to bed, and right now we need to take whatever citeh offers (********s). I agree with you rug, I dont think we will get the full 7.75 but I think he will play 50 games so we would get 6+ for him, which is still decent. SolDestroyer I think that loans are not the way to go, because the fees could change by then, Benji would be 30 by then and less attractive to sign on a permanent basis as a matter of fact getting rid of him would just be stupid, we would get rid of our top striker to one of our rivals to use, we certainly wouldnt be able to get 7.75 for him. As for Defoe, his price may rise he is still young and if he did perform well for us his price would no doubt rise and Spurs would shop him around to the highest bidder.

i find it hard to believe that 'svenis' will not buy a couple of strikers in the summer, so £3.8m could be pocket change for the thai to tie - pardon the pun - them over until the summer... so i would almost put the house on him not getting 75 games in his citeh career, it could be pushing it to make 50 as you say pfc123 25 might not even be made? all we can do is wait and see now i guess...

SolDestroyer, defoe is saying all the right things and so long as he plays regularly - as he will - he will be happy and we will do well, but it is essential that we now make his loan permanent in the next couple of days to applease the fans - but please dont put a 'clause' in his contract... well unless it is a very large one...